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The Minister for Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, has identified
inadequate funding and financial indiscipline as the perennial problems bedeviling
our educational development. Governing Councils and University administrators
have therefore been challenged to uphold honesty, accountability and discipline
in discharging their duties. “Universities must set the pace for financial probity, honesty, transparency and
discipline”he
declared. To succeed, he advised
university governing councils to create atmosphere of peace in their
institutions and communities. They should also relate with staff unions and
students in a cordial manner. Above all, they should make the educational
system competitive globally and adhere to rules guiding academic briefs and relevant
master-plans. In all, they should strive to justify the confidence reposed in them by Visitor to their universities,
President Mohammadu Buhari, GCFR.

The Minister was speaking at the inauguration of Chairmen and members of the reconstituted Governing Councils of the 12 new Universities
established by the government of former President, Dr.
Goodluck Jonathan, held on Tuesday March 1, 2016, at the main Auditorium of National Universities Commission,
Abuja.

According to the minister, the inaugurationsignaled a milestone in the history of education
in the country, moreso that the appointees were assuming responsibilities at a most needed
time. He decried what he described as alarming rate of capital plight and
challenged them to explore means and measures that would tame the ugly tide.

On funding, the minister said while
government would continue to play its role within its available resources, governing
councils should also be creative in university
management and in seeking other ways of
fundingso asmeet up with the ever-increasing financial demands of universites. He disclosed that the Federal Government is poised to tackle
challenges in then sector as evidenced in the fact that Education got a very
high allocation in the 2016 national Budget. The minister equally expressed the readiness of the Ministry of Education and
indeed the Buhari administration to patner with Governing
Councils as well as management
for higher productivity.

In a brief
remark at the ceremony, Senate
Committee Chairman on Tertiary Education and TETFUND, Senator Binta Masi-Garba applauded the
gender balance in the appointments and assured that the Senate and other
relevant agencies would not rest on their oars until
they tame the frightening flight in our education system.

Speaking on behalf of the newly inaugurated Governing
Council members, Senator
Gbemisola Saraki, who is the Chairman of the Federal University Otueke governing council,expressed their readiness to work with university managements and other
stakeholders to ensure success in the education sector. She said ‘we are out to
deliver real service guided by sincerity and integrity and these are attributes
that money cannot buy’, promising not to disappoint the Visitor who found them worthy of the
appointment.

Earlier, in an opening remark, the Minister of State, for Education, Professor Anthony Anwuka had reminded the
appointees that their appointment was a call for national service and therefore challenged
them to use their wealth of experience to justify the confidence reposed in
them. While emphasizing that the appointment was on part time basis, he admonished
them to give their best to the
responsiblity they have been sadled with.Professor Anwuka
further charged appointees to serve as ears
and eyes of the Visitor in their various institutions. He reassured that their
appointments were well thought out; the Buhari administration therefore counts on their support and
cooperation, announcing that the reconstitution of the
governingcouncils was a
deliberate attempt by government to reinvigorate the educational system.

At the sidelines
of the programme, the Vice-Chancellor, Federal University Oye-Ekiti, Professor Kayode Soremekun, who himself is also new, used the opportunity of the governing
council inauguration to fraternize with the Pro-chancellor and Chairman of
Council, FUOYE, Professor Saida Mabadeje and other council memberswho he was meeting for
the first time. He also got to meet and interact with Principal Officers of the
University.

Other members of the FUOYE Governing Council are Professor Buba Ahmed, Mr Alkali Aji Kolo, Engr Sabo Inuwa and Mr Folusho Philips. (The latter was absent during the inauguration).

If what
transpired at an informal
meeting between the newly-constituted Council and the University management team is anything to go by, then a concensus is already in the making for the growth and development of the buddinguniversity. The
Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council, Professor Saida Mabadeje has this to
say, “I wish to express my
readiness to work with the management of the University
and other stakeholders to
ensure the progress of the University,”On his part, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Kayode Somerekun said his
administration would open doors for ideas and initiatives that will move the
young institution toward, pledging to give nothing short of his best to
attest to the confidence reposed in him, with God on his side.

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